Etymology From Middle English trey, from Old English trēġ, trīġ (“wooden board, tray”), from Proto-West Germanic *trauwi, from Proto-Germanic *trawją (“wooden vessel”), from Proto-Indo-European *drewo-, *dóru (“tree; wood”). Cognate with Old Norse treyja (“carrier”), Old Swedish trø (“wooden grain measure”), Low German Treechel (“dough trough”), Ancient Greek δροίτη (droítē, “tub, vat”), Sanskrit द्रोण (droṇa, “trough”). Related to trough and tree.
1
A small, typically rectangular or round, flat, and rigid object upon which things are carried.
I carefully arranged the dishes on the tray and brought it upstairs.
Make sure that tray of eggs is properly loaded.
1 more example
Now that she had rested and had fed from the luncheon tray Mrs. Broome had just removed, she had reverted to her normal gaiety. She looked cool in a grey tailored cotton dress with a terracotta scarf and shoes and her hair a black silk helmet.1963, Margery Allingham, chapter 2, in The China Governess: A Mystery, London: Chatto & Windus, →OCLC:
2
Broadly The items on a full tray.
Before long they had consumed a whole tray of shrimp cocktails and sent for another.
3
A component of a device into which an item is placed for use in the device's operations.
The CD tray will not open.
The loader is responsible for placing the work on the trays for the plating machines.
[…]some developers try to use it that way for some reason (some applications inexplicably minimize to the tray rather than to the taskbar as they should).2007, Brian Livingston, Paul Thurrott, Windows Vista Secrets:
5
Business, Computing, Engineering, Mathematics, Natural sciences, Physical sciences, Sciences A type of retail or wholesale packaging for CPUs where the processors are sold in bulk and/or with minimal packaging.
6
Australia The platform of a truck that supports the load to be hauled.
Etymology From Middle English trey, from Old English trēġ, trīġ (“wooden board, tray”), from Proto-West Germanic *trauwi, from Proto-Germanic *trawją (“wooden vessel”), from Proto-Indo-European *drewo-, *dóru (“tree; wood”). Cognate with Old Norse treyja (“carrier”), Old Swedish trø (“wooden grain measure”), Low German Treechel (“dough trough”), Ancient Greek δροίτη (droítē, “tub, vat”), Sanskrit द्रोण (droṇa, “trough”). Related to trough and tree.
1
to place (items) on a tray
Be sure to tray eggs with the large end up.
2
to slide down a snow-covered hill on a tray from a cafeteria.
Traying has provided collegiate fun and the occasional fatality for decades.
tray
noun
Etymology From Middle English traye, treie, from Old English trega (“misfortune, misery, trouble, grief, pain”), from Proto-Germanic *tregô (“mourning”), from Proto-Indo-European *dreǵʰ- (“unwilling, sullen, slack”). Cognate with Icelandic tregi (“sorrow, grief”), Gothic 𐍄𐍂𐌹𐌲𐍉 (trigō, “grief”).
Etymology From Middle English trayen, treien, from Old English tregian (“to trouble, harass, vex”), from Proto-West Germanic *tregōn, from Proto-Germanic *tregōną (“to become tedious, become lazy, sadden”), from Proto-Indo-European *dreǵʰ- (“unwilling, sullen, slack”).